Majora's Mask sans lien
by Matador Matty
Summary: The tale of Majora's Mask, retold with one major difference: Link is nowhere to be found, and in his place are Willen and Nicky, two boys who fall afoul of the Skull Kid one day. Certainly, two ordinary kids cannot hope to free Termina of the curse that has befallen it... but one can hope. Collaboration with Endriel Scarburst.
1. chapitre1

_**Author's Note: This is a collaborative work between myself and my friend Endriel Scarburst, who also has a FanFiction account. Events will not proceed exactly as they did in the original "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask", primarily because Link does not appear in this piece. However, the overall procession of the game will not be changed, for the most part. **_

_**The Legend of Zelda belongs to Nintendo, but our OCs, Willen and Nicky, belong to Endriel and myself respectively. Please enjoy our feature presentation.**_

* * *

"Ow! Ow! Ow! This hurts a lot! Ow! Willen, let go!"

"I'm not going to, it's too dark in here and I can't see worth two weasels."

It was a dark, foggy night in the forest. Our heroes, two boys around the age of ten, were currently hustling through the woods as fast as they could, searching for something.

"Why didn't you bring a lantern with you? You knew this travel was going to take more than a day!" one of the boys, a short, pale boy with long, shaggy, blonde and pink hair and a blue coat, complained.

"Shut your yap, Nicky," Willen, who had flyaway brown hair and a dark coat, scolded. "For now, we need to find out where that masked freak went!"

At that moment, they were just wandering around in the darkness, and the only thing they had managed to find was a cave that looked even darker inside.

"Maybe he's hiding in here?" Nicky theorized, peering through the fog into the mouth of the cave.

"Do you wanna risk it?" Willen asked "I'm pretty sure we'll be completely blind in there."

Nicky shrugged. "Better than seeing that _mask _again."

Willen shuddered upon remembering what Nicky was talking about. "Yeah, that's definitely a plus." Both of them took a deep breath before heading inside the cave.

They took a few steps into the cave, and then- they were falling.

Falling,  
falling,  
falling,  
falling,  
falling,  
THUMP. For all their talk, neither of them had been expecting the cave to have a very deep hole in it, which both boys had just tumbled right down before landing in a bed of leaves in a tangle. For a minute, they lay there, groaning and trying to right themselves. Then, they heard a horrible, high-pitched, cackling laughter, and both Willen and Nicky's heads turned towards the other end of the little cavern they had fallen into, to see a terrifying sight.

They saw someone -a kid- standing, no, floating over there, wearing a raggedy green tunic, pants, and gloves, along with an equally tattered orange poncho and a big straw hat. He was floating, reclining in midair. This didn't seem so bad, at first. What was terrifying, though, was the mask he was wearing: a heart-shaped mask painted in many bright colors, with ten sharp spines and a pair of huge, orange eyes that seemed to glow in the light of two torches at his sides. Just glancing at it was enough to send shivers down someone's spine. Nicky very nearly screamed at the sight of the mask, but the wearer just laughed.

"That was a good one, Skull Kid!" a voice laughed. It seemed to be coming from the white ball of light that was hovering near the mask's wearer, next to a dark purple orb of the same size.

"Hey, aren't those the two guys we just stole that thingy from?" another voice asked, this time coming from the purple orb.

The "Skull Kid" let out his awful giggle again and procured a blue clay instrument from a pocket of his tunic. It was an ocarina, a little clay flute of sorts, emblazoned with a symbol on the mouthpiece- a symbol made up of three golden triangles. Willen's eyes widened as he saw it.

"Hey!" Willen shouted. "That's ours!"

The Skull Kid tilted his head to an alarming angle, the kind that would snap most people's necks if they tried. "Yours? Is it broken or something? It doesn't make any proper music." He lifted the ocarina to the mask, which didn't seem to have any mouth opening, and somehow blew into the ocarina, making a flat, screeching noise. "See? It's just junk. You should be _glad_ I took it off your hands."

"You're not even playing it right!" Willen argued, stepping foward. "Give it back right now!" Nicky just cowered behind him.

"Give it back?" The Skull Kid tilted his head again in the opposite direction. "Nah... instead, how about I give you something else? This should fix you! Eee hee hee hee!"

All of a sudden, the Skull Kid started shaking his head, making an odd, unnerving rustling sound, all the while intently staring at Willen. The sound got louder and, at that moment, Willen fell down to his knees, putting his hands over his ears.

* * *

When he looked up again, everything was dark.

"What the... where am I?" Willen wondered, looking around. It was like he was illuminated by a spotlight, with nothing at all around him but blackness. Quietly at first, but then louder and louder, he heard something coming from the darkness- the steps of a giant creature. And then, the whole place was alive with red- the red leaves of innumerable small creatures that looked like they were made of living wood.

All of them were trying to get near Willen, some of them even running over the others. The dark place was so full of those things, Willen was having a hard time breathing. He felt claustrophobic surrounded by all the wooden monsters. He wanted to get away from them, but there was nowhere to run. He was surrounded.

At that moment, all that Willen could do was to wait until that nightmare was over. He did exactly that, closing his eyes and praying for this to end. His body tumbled through a gap in the wood creatures, and he was falling, falling, falling, falling...

* * *

...Willen opened his eyes again, to find himself back in the cavern with Nicky and the Skull Kid. The Skull Kid was laughing.

"Eee hee hee hee! That's a good look for you!" he snickered.

It took him a minute to realize that the cave, as well as who was in it, looked... bigger. Willen looked down at himself... and he did not like what he saw.

His body seemed to be made of wood, like a puppet's. Instead of a regular nose and mouth, he had a long, open snout. His ears were gone, and his hair had transformed into brown, crackly grass. His eyes, judging by their reflection in the puddle he was standing in, were large, glowing orange, and sad-looking. In short, he seemed to have become the same kind of creature that he had faced in the dark place.

"H- Wha-" Willen kept stuttering. His voice sounded all squeaky and wobbly, like the voice of a cartoon character. "...What the heck did you do to me?!"

The Skull Kid turned somersaults in the air, giggling uncontrollably. "I turned you into a Deku Scrub, genius! What's it look like? Now, you'll stay in that pitiful form forever! Hee hee hee hee!"

Then, Skull Kid looked at Nicky, who was still cowering in the corner. "As for you, I tried to think of something to turn you into, but you're pathetic enough already. Bye!" Still in midair, the Skull Kid began to float backwards into the caves beyond, the purple ball of light following him. The white ball stayed behind to bother Willen and Nicky and prevent them from giving chase, but just as Skull Kid and the purple light vanished into the cavern, a door began to slide closed, sealing Nicky, Willen, and the white light in the room. The light sphere tried to follow them, but the door was already closed, and there was no way it could open it by itself.

"Hey, Skull Kid! C'mon don't leave me behind!" the light sphere started screaming, looking for a way to open the door. It pushed against the door once, twice, three times, before seeming to slump over in defeat.

Then, it turned around, to see Willen and Nicky. Before either human nor Deku knew what hit them, it flew right for them.

"You two! You can help me get out, right?" it raved, and now that Willen and Nicky could see it clearly, they found that it was not a light ball at all, but a tiny creature that looked like a teenage girl, wearing modest clothing that looked to be made of plant matter. On her back were a pair of large wings like an insect's.

"Why would we do that?" Nicky asked. He sounded angry. "You were together with that masked menace."

"I know, but... but..." the little creature argued. "You wanna get out of here, right? Just open the door! I'm not letting Skull Kid and my brother run off like that!"

"Well, we can't let that freak run away either," Willen said. "He stole our ocarina and, now, he turned me into a... a Deku, whatever that is. He's not getting away that easily."

"So you'll do it?" The creature asked.

Willen nodded. "No way around it."

"Yes! Awesome! I knew I could count on you!" The winged girl did a victory dance in midair. "Oh, and my name is Tatl. I'm a faerie. C'mon, let's go!"

Nicky staggered to his feet, and walked across the room, the low-burning torches at the end casting eerie shadows over his face. He pushed at the door, which creaked open surprisingly easily for its size and the stone it was made of.

Heading forward through a dark tunnel, this odd little crew found themselves on a wooden platform with a big pink flower spouting up from the center of it. There was a gap between the platform they were on and the other side of the cave, where the door to the next tunnel was located.

"How are we going to get past this?" asked the Deku Scrub.

Tatl made a ringing noise. "See this plant here?" she asked, pointing down at the flower. "This is a Deku Flower. You Deku Scrubs use it to fly."

Both of them looked at the faerie in confusion. "... How?"

"Ya kinda... burrow into it," Tatl said. "You, Deku guy, stand on the flower."

"My name's Willen," Willen replied sourly, but he did as told.

"Okay... what now?" he asked. "How am I supposed to burrow myself in it?"

"Just... focus. You'll see."

Willen arched a wooden eyebrow, but did as told. He stood on the flower, and focused, and then...

_POP!_

"Aah! Willen!" Nicky shouted.

Without even realizing, Willen had somehow drilled himself inside the flower. "Don't worry, I'm okay... just a bit dizzy..." he answered back. "What do I do now?"

"You jump!" Tatl laughed. "Oh, and Blondie? Be prepared to grab onto your Deku friend's leg when he goes rocketing out."

"I'm jumping out in 3... 2... 1... Now!" And Willen just rocketed out of the flower, holding two big, spinning flowers of the same color as the one he'd fallen into, keeping him in midair.

Nicky gaped. "Holy..."

"Yeah..." Tatl viewed the sight with awe. "Well, you two better get going. Grab on to Deku kid and hope you don't fall, Blondie."

Nicky obeyed, jumping up to grab Willen by the legs.

"Better hold on tight, I'm not responsible if you fall," Willen warned. He leaned foward, which made him glide to the other side of the cave. Just as they reached the other side, the petals of the flowers fell off, making making Willen and Nicky land.

"That was a bit weird."

"More like terrifying..." Nicky was shaking head to toe, his eye twitching.

"... You're a wimp, Nicky," Willen said, groaning at his friend's cowardice. "Anyway, we should get going."

"Agreed." The boy, Deku, and faerie hustled off into the next cavern, but their faces fell at the sight of what lay ahead. This new cavern was many times larger than the first, and within it were suspended a series of eerily floating chunks of earth, each with a Deku Flower growing on it.

"This is going to be great..." Willen said sarcastically. "Are you ready for this, Nicky?"

Nicky gulped.

* * *

One blood-curdling flower ride later, Willen and Nicky touched down at the other side of the cavern, Tatl hovering behind.

"Nice flying, Scrub," she complimented.

"I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic. Uh... are you alright, Nicky?"

Nicky was still shaking, and looked rather green around the gills. "I'll be f-f-f-fine," he stuttered.

"C'mon, it couldn't be that bad," Willen argued. He looked around the platform, and spotted what looked like a small dead tree. The weird thing was that the tree actually had a face. This face was twisted in an agonized scream, and the Deku felt deeply unnerved at the sight.

Tatl bit her lip. "This tree... it looks so sad..."

"Yeah... it's better if we keep going. Just looking at it is making me feel nervous." Willen shuddered and turned away from the tree, to face the next tunnel.

Heading forward, they found themselves traversing through a huge, empty tunnel with colorful moss and grass growing on the earthy walls, before arriving at a dim, dingy room with a big mechanism in the center of it, and a spiral staircase winding around it. As soon as the unlikely crew entered, the door closed behind them, locking itself.

"Where. .. are we?" Nicky asked, taking in the sight. The room was dark and dusty, and all three occupants could smell the scent of water. Willen tentatively stepped forward, towards the staircase.

Going upstairs, they arrived in a big, dusty room. The mechanism from down below went up to, and presumably through, the ceiling of the room. The place was dimly lit so, although it wasn't as bad as the forest, it was still hard to see. There was a door at the other end of the room, and the turning of the mechanism's gears was the only significant sound in the room.

"I think I recognize this place," Tatl said.

"Well then, where are we?" Nicky asked.

"I'm... I'm not sure," the faerie answered.

They explored the room a bit to see if they found something like another door and just as they were about to leave the place, a low, creepy voice echoed around the room.

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

The unlikely trio jumped and whirled around, to see a man standing right behind them. He had long, pointed ears like an elf's, and was thin as a stick. He had short, neatly combed hair in an astonishing shade of red, and wore long clothes of royal purple. He wore an enormous backpack with masks of many kinds hanging off it, but he didn't seem to have any difficulty carrying it. His face seemed to be a permanent, toothy grin, and his eyes were closed.

"Wh- Who are you?" Nicky stuttered, his voice was still shaky from the scare.

"Oh, me?" The man laughed, not a high-pitched, frantic cackle like the Skull Kid's, but a more easy-going, pleasant laugh. "I'm known by many names, but you may call me the Happy Mask Salesman."

"Ookay... could you tell us where are we?" Willen asked.

"Where are you? Why, you're in Clock Town, in the land of Termina." The, uh, Happy Mask Salesman clasped his hands together. "And it seems you're in a dreadful predicament, too."

"Yeah, kinda," Willen agreed. "This masked freak who goes by the name of Skull Kid turned me into... this, whatever this is."

"Deku Scrub," Tatl supplied helpfully.

"Yeah, a Deku Scrub. He also stole mine and Nicky's ocarina."

"A... Mask, you said?" the Salesman asked. "Could you tell me how that mask looked?"

Nicky hastily reconstructed a picture of the mask from his memory. "It was... heart-shaped, I think. It was painted purple and magenta and orange, and it had two huge, orange eyes... and it had ten horns on it: two on the top, and four on each side."

When Nicky described the mask's appearance, the Salesman's smile faded away. Everything went silent for a moment. Then, without even a warning, he grabbed Nicky by his shoulders amd started shaking him back and forth like a ragdoll.

"You- You need to get that mask back for me!" the no-longer-Happy Mask Salesman shouted. His smile had reappeared, but now it seemed frozen to his face, practically painted on, and his eyes were bulging with rage. "That mask must never fall into the wrong hands!"

"Aieeeeeee!" Nicky wailed as he was shaken. "Willen! Tatl! Heeeeelp!"

"Hey! Calm down, you creepy pencil pusher!" Willen shouted. "What's so important about that mask anyway?!"

The Angry Mask Salesman dropped the blond boy and rounded on the Deku Scrub. "That is none of your concern!" he snarled. "I need that mask back as soon as possible!"

After a few more seconds, the Salesman finally calmed down. After one, two, three deep breaths, he finally said something. "How about this? I'll tell you how to get your friend out of his... current state and, in turn, you will bring the mask back to me. How does that sound?"

Willen and Nicky looked at one another, then tentatively nodded.

"Good!" The Salesman was all smiles again, and he clapped his hands together satisfiedly. "Oh, but you'll need the ocarina that was stolen from you first. If you find that, get the mask, and return to me, I'll teach you how to remove the curse that has transformed you into a Deku Scrub."

"Alright then," Willen said.

"There is one little problem, though," the Salesman pointed out. "I will have to leave this town in three days. As such, that is your time limit."

"Doesn't sound so bad. We accept your offer," Tatl said confidently.

"Wonderful! I'll be waiting here. Remember, you only have three days!"

With that, the trio headed towards the only door in the room, going outside.

The place looked nice. The sun was only beginning to rise, casting the soft, golden light of dawn over the town. Children were playing in the plaza under the shadow of the clock tower Willen, Nicky, and Tatl had come out from. Adults talked cheerily amongst themselves, discussing recent events and things to come There were four large, muscular men working on some kind of wooden construction in the middle of the plaza, preparing for something. It would have been normal, like any other town... if it weren't for one glaring difference.

Nicky looked into the sky, and what he saw nearly made him faint dead away. "G-g-guys?" he stuttered, pointing upwards.

Tatl arched an eyebrow. "What's got you all uppity, Blondie?"

"Up... up there..." Nicky's eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell unconscious, collapsing to the ground out of sheer terror.

Willen and Tatl looked up.

They almost fainted as well when they saw it.

What they saw... was the moon: a gigantic moon with an angry expression on its face. Yes, it had a face. Almost like they had been carved into the crater-studded, dusty grey surface of the celestial satellite, two sunken, lurid orange eyes glared down at the world. A huge mouth with monstrous teeth clenched in fury and a hooked, aquiline nose accentuated said eyes. Defying the laws of physics, it was hovering in the early morning sky like a gargantuan wraith... and as Deku and faerie stared, a low tremor shook the ground beneath them, and the moon seemed to inch infinitesimally closer to the earth.

Willen looked from the moon, to Tatl, who was staring with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, to Nicky, out cold from sheer terror, back to the moon. He stared into those huge, flame-colored eyes, stared at those grinding, gnashing teeth, stared at the moon in all its terrible glory.

And he _screamed_.


	2. chapitre2

Moons were _not _supposed to do that. _Definitely _not. Moons didn't have _faces_. Moons didn't _glare at people_. Moons didn't _leave their orbit_.

That was the only thing Nicky could think of as he raced through Clock Town with Willen and Tatl hot on his heels, having revived him a few minutes ago.

"Nicky, wait!" Willen yelled, rushing right behind him. "Where are you going? We don't even know where we are!"

"We're running through East Clock Town!" shouted Tatl. "We're coming up on North!"

Currently, the trio were hightailing it down an alleyway that led into another plaza, this one filled with all manner of shops. Two jugglers were throwing balls and telling jokes in the center of the plaza, next to a tall post of uncertain purpose. There were signs on several buildings reading things like "Milk Bar", "Mayoral Office", "Stock Pot Inn", and the like.

"Nicky, come baaaaaack!" Willen shouted.

For one moment, Nicky stopped and looked around. This didn't last long, though, as almost immediately, he was heading inside the Mayor's office.

* * *

Nicky was planning on asking why the hell the moon was out of its orbit. Ever since he had first seen the thing hovering in the sky and descending at an agonizingly slow pace, it had been all he could think about. He never got the chance, though, because the moment he entered the office and passed by the receptionist, who directed him to the door on the left, he saw a bunch of people arguing with each other.

"Mayor Dotour, most of the citizens have already fled Clock Town! The Carnival of Time simply must be cancelled! We must evacuate all of the remaining citizens!"

"The Carnival has to go on! Tradition dictates that every year, we celebrate the Carnival, and why should this year be any different because of a scary-looking chunk of rock?!"

The belligerents in the office were two man who were drastically different. One was a tall, lean, clean-shaven young man wearing silvery plate armor and a plumed helmet which shadowed his eyes; the other was a short, plump, mustachioed old man wearing a blue coat and tiger-striped pants. Both seemed extremely angry at one another and were shouting loudly while the apparent mayor, a scrawny little man in a loud red and blue outfit and a strange blue hairstyle, cowered in a tall armchair, occasionally mumbling responses to their furious shouts.

By the looks of it, this argument was going nowhere. This went on for a few minutes, until Nicky couldn't take it anymore.

"E-excuse me!" he blurted out. The quarrelling trio stopped their argument to stare at the scrawny, blonde boy.

"Uh, what is it, my boy?" the Mayor asked, using the moment of silence to speak a little louder.

"I j-just came here, and I want to know..." Nicky's hand shot up, finger pointing skyward. "Why is the moon so low in the sky!?" he shouted. "And why does it have a face!?"

The Mayor sighed. "We would love to know that too, kid," he answered.

"At any rate, it's certain that the moon is going to crash directly into Clock Town. We need to evacuate the town before that happens," the man wearing the armor -probably a guard- pointed out.

The man in the blue coat snorted. "I'm telling you, it just looks larger! So what if it isn't smiling like it normally does? There's no way something that big can deviate from its gravitational orbit around Earth and go crashing into the planet!"

"That's exactly what's going to happen!" And without even a minute, chaos reigned in the Mayor's office again.

Nicky groaned. Unbeknownst to him, though, Willen and Tatl were sneaking up behind him, wanting to make sure he wouldn't run away but at the same time wondering what this fight was all about.

"You know Mutoh is speaking nonsense, right, Mayor Dotour?" the guard asked. "Him and his carpenters are so wrapped up in tradition that they can't recognize impending danger when they see it!"

"I, er," Mayor Dotour stuttered.

Mutoh, the old man, spat on the floor. "You just _had _to bring this argument to city hall, didn't you, Viscen?" he asked. "Just talk to Madame Aroma instead! She'll slap some sense into you, you coward."

"L-Let's not bring my wife into this..." the Mayor mumbled.

The argument between Viscen and Mutoh just went on without any sign that it would end soon.

"Uh... Nicky, we should leave now. We're not getting anything out of these guys," Willen said in a low voice.

Nicky jumped and whirled around to see the Deku and Tatl right behind him. "What the-!? When did you get here?!"

"We were following you all this time! Now c'mon, we can't waste our time here," Tatl said. "We've got to find Skull Kid and get that flute thing!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going..." With that, the trio left the office, without even being noticed.

* * *

"So... where should we start looking?" Willen asked as the group stepped out into the sunlight.

Nicky shrugged. "You used to hang out with that creep, right, Tatl?" he asked. "Where did you two go?"

"We didn't didn't hang around here at the town," Tatl commented. She looked around the eastern plaza, making absolutely certain not to look into the sky. "I do know a place we can go, though!"

Willen looked up. "You do?"

Tatl nodded seriously... then, to Willen's chagrin, broke out into giggles, flipping over in midair. "Gaaa-hahaha!" she snorted. "I can't take you seriously when you look and sound so stupid!"

"I swear, when I get back to normal, I'm going to put you in a glass jar," Willen muttered. "But enough with the jokes. You said you knew where we should go."

Tatl sobered up, and nodded, pointing northwest. "That way is Clock Town's Great Faerie Fountain. The Great Faerie who lives there is probably the most magical being in Clock Town." She grinned. "She's got magic practically _oozing _off her. If anyone can find Skull Kid, it's her."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Willen said. "The sooner we meet this faerie, the sooner I'll be back to my human form." Tatl nodded and flew away in the direction she had pointed, her odd companions trotting behind as fast as they could to keep up with her.

* * *

The north area of the town had buildings than the East area. It was a grassy place, a large park of sorts, with what looked like an entrance to a cave on the far side of the park. If it weren't for the moon looming overhead, it would have been quite peaceful.

"Wow... this place is really pretty," said Nicky.

"It sure is," Willen added "I'm not surprised this is where the Fountain is located." He looked around, and spotted the cave entrance. "Is that where the Great Faerie is?"

Tatl nodded. "Yep. Her Faerie Fountain is right through there."

"Great." And without saying anything else, Willen ran towards the Faerie Fountain, Nicky and Tatl following him.

One could say that the three of them were surprised, if not a bit disappointed, when they arrived there.

Why? Because there was no Great Faerie in the fountain.

Willen paced into the dark cavern quietly, to avoid possibly frightening or offending the Faerie. As he did, the cavern lit up with a soft, bluish light, revealing a tile floor and a large pool of warm water in the middle, surrounded by Greek columns. Orbs of orange light were floating around the fountain, and on closer inspection, they appeared to be faeries, just like Tatl. However, there was no faerie that could even remotely be called "Great" in sight.

"This is weird..." Nicky breathed. "Where's the Great Faerie?"

Tatl flew closer to the other faeries... "Um..." The yellow faerie flew around one, staring at it from all angles, then shuddered- the thing was barely conscious, floating limply in midair with nothing more than magic. "Oh. Oh, jeez. I guess these things... ARE the Great Faerie."

"W-wha!?" Nicky stared at the orange faeries. "How? Isn't she one being?"

To answer Nicky's question, the swarm of faeries spoke in unison.

"Please help me, young ones. Part of my essence was torn away by the masked Skull Kid."

The response of Nicky, Tatl, and Willen came all at once.

"_**SKULL KID **_did this!?"

"Yes," the faeries said. "He appeared in this fountain and attacked me, and tore my essence to shreds. The Stray Faerie created by this missing piece is somewhere in Clock Town. Without it, I am powerless. Please, help me."

"How much trouble will this Skull Kid bring to us?" Willen complained, kicking at the ground despondently. "Well, if we want to have some help from the Great Faerie, we'll need to find that fragment of hers... let's hope it's still in the town."

Nicky nodded. "How hard can it be? It's a floating orange light. Can't be too many of those."

"Good luck. Please, hurry," said the Great Faerie, her voice echoing through the fountain quietly as the trio exited.

* * *

Once they were back in the park of North Clock Town, they began formulating a plan of action.

"Think we should stick together or split up?" Nicky asked.

"In my opinion, we should split up. We'll find that stray faerie a lot faster," said Willen. "Tatl, how many areas of Clock Town are there?"

Tatl thought about it. "Uhh... There's West, East, South, and North. Plus the Laundry Pool connected to South, but that place is boooooring."

"I'll take South, then," Willen decided. "Nicky, you check East, and Tatl, look through West."

Each one of them headed to one area of Clock Town, as they agreed.

For a floating orange light, Willen was having trouble locating the darn thing. No matter where he looked in South Clock Town, there was no sign of the Stray Faerie. He asked the carpenters, who told him to stop bothering them when they were working. He asked the people playing in the square, who laughed at him because many had never seen a Deku scrub before. He even asked a dog in the hopes that magically it would talk and answer him. All it did was chase after him and bite him.

Eventually, with a heavy heart and a sore leg from where the dog had bitten him, Willen limped towards the Laundry Pool, a little walled garden with a bench and a large pool for people to wash their laundry in.

Just imagine the surprise he had when he saw an orange sphere of light, just like the other ones at the Faerie Fountain, floating at the opposite end of the pool above the water. It was murmuring incoherent words, just hovering there like a ghost or something. Willen was about to jump over to grab the Stray Faerie, but stopped right at the edge of the pool and frowned. He was not a high jumper as a Deku Scrub, and he was sure that, with his current form, he wouldn't be able to swim if he fell in the water.

"Um... how do I get over there...?" Willen looked at the water and tried to do calculations in his head, but failed. The simple fact of it all was that he was far too short to jump up and reach the Stray Faerie.

"C'mon! Of all places, you had to choose to float right over a pool of water!" he yelled. There wasn't any response from the faerie, and people passing by looked at the Deku strangely.

"...You know what? Screw it... I'm trying it." Willen took a few steps back, and ran as fast as he could in the faerie's direction. He tried to jump as high as he could, but he couldn't reach it. He fell down, and...

..._BOING_!

With a squeaky yelp, Willen rocketed back upwards.

Whatever happened there, it allowed Willen to reach the Stray Faerie. He grabbed the orange faerie on his way down, and he was about to fall to the water again, but the moment he touched the surface, he bounced again. This kept happening, propelling him further each time, until he reached the other side of the pool.

"...what the?" he said to nobody in particular. He stared at his feet, then the Faerie in his hand.

"Thank you," the Faerie whispered. "Please... my body... return it to the Faerie Fountain in North Clock Town, so I may be whole again."

And with that, Willen rushed back to the Faerie Fountain.

* * *

As was to be expected, Nicky was having no luck finding the Stray Faerie in East Clock Town. He was searching in every nook and cranny, talking to people, even looking in trash cans. However, although the Stray Faerie was nowhere to be found, Nicky had found several strange, hexagonal gems lying around, colored green and blue and red, and decided to keep them in his coat pocket with the intent of asking what they were.

"Hello? Stray Faerie? Are you in here?" he called into a trash can. Of course, nobody answered, and Nicky sighed as he closed the can. "Darn..." Despondently, he entered the building that the can was in front of, not noticing the sign next to its door that read "Stock Pot Inn".

Inside the dully-colored, tidy lobby of the building, Nicky saw two people standing at the reception desk. One was a man with a long, pointy mustache, wearing a red and blue coat with a ruff. The other was a young, red-haired woman, wearing simple clothes, standing behind the reception desk. Strangely, both of them had long, pointed ears, like an elf's, and it suddenly occurred to Nicky that from what he'd seen, _everyone_ in Clock Town did, even the Happy Mask Salesman.

"And will that be all for today, Mr. Gorman?" the woman asked.

"Yes, ma'am. That'll do." The man, apparently named Gorman, nodded and took a room key from the woman, before departing for the rooms, which were beyond a door on the left.

Nicky stepped up to the woman's desk. "Um, excuse me?" he asked.

"Yes? How can I help you?" The woman looked at Nicky.

"Um," Nicky started, "I'm looking for a faerie. She's about this big-" He cupped his hands to roughly the size of Tatl, to demonstrate. "-and she glows orange. Have you seen a faerie like that?"

"Uh... Sorry, but I haven't seen any faerie around here," she answered, giving a bit of a weird look to Nicky.

Nicky's face fell. "Aw..." he sighed. "Well... can you tell me what these are?" From his coat pocket, the blonde and pink-haired boy pulled out two of the gems he had found, a red and a blue one.

The woman looked down at the gems, then up at Nicky. "I don't want to sound rude but... you really don't know what these are?"

Nicky shook his head. "No, sorry... I'm not from around here."

"Well, these are called Rupees. We use them as currency around here and, depending on the color, their value differs." The woman pointed to the green one. "Green Rupees are worth one Rupee, and blue ones are five. Red Rupees are worth twenty. There are also purple, silver, and orange Rupees, which are worth fifty, one hundred, and two hundred, but they're not common."

"Okay. Thank you." Nicky nodded.

"Any time, dear." The woman smiled. "My name is Anju. Would you like to reserve a room here? We have one open chamber."

"_Well, we don't have anywhere to stay for the night..._" Nicky thought to himself. "How much to rent a room?"

"Twenty rupees for a night," said Anju.

Nicky nodded. "Right..." He fished in his pocket again, and brought out two more red Rupees. "This should cover it, right?" he asked, taking back the blue Rupee and laying the three red ones out on the counter.

"So you're staying for three nights? Alright, then." Anju picked up the three rupees and stowed them away behind the counter. "Could you give your name?"

"I'm Nicky, and I'll be staying with my brother Willen and a faerie named Tatl."

"Alright." Anju wrote down each name on what looked like the Inn's guest book. "Is that all?"

"Yes, thanks." The chubby boy let a small smile cross his face. He left the Inn and sighed. He'd had no luck in finding the Stray Faerie, but at least they now had somewhere they could sleep.

* * *

Unlike Nicky and Willen, Tatl gave up pretty quickly. She was already back at the Great Faerie Fountain after roughly five minutes of cursorily glancing around West Clock Town, complaining loudly.

"Of all the times you could actually be helpful instead of just floating around looking all creepy," she whined to the shattered Faerie, "you _had _to go and get smashed to bits by the _Skull Kid_."

There was no response from the faerie fragments. They just kept floating over the fountain like a swarm.

A few minutes later, steps could be heard from the fountain entrance, Tatl looked back and saw Nicky arriving. Almost immediately, the white faerie rushed towards him, getting in his face.

"Did you find the Stray?!" she asked fervently. "Please tell me you found the Stray!"

"No," Nicky answered, sounding a bit disappointed. Just after he came in, though, they saw another person running inside. It was too short to be human, and... it had a glowing orb floating around it. A glowing, _orange _orb.

"Willen!" Nicky's green eyes brightened. "You found it!"

"It was hard to find this Faerie, so I hope she can be of some help." Willen got closer to the swarm of faeries and, at the same moment, the stray one joined the rest of them. They began to swirl around in a spiral, slowly growing closer and closer together, until BANG! With a flash of light and the sound of a thunderclap, Willen, Nicky, and Tatl were thrown backwards.

The only thing that could be heard was a loud laugh after that. The light faded away, and instead of the swarm of shattered faeries, the Great Faerie was floating there... and she was, in a word, terrifying. She was wearing clothes made of plant matter just like Tatl, only much more revealing, showing the Deku and the human things they didn't exactly want to see. Her eyes were disturbingly wide, and her mouth seemed to be stretched in a permanent smile. She had bright red hair tied into three long ponytails.

Nicky had a terrified look on his face, and it would be the same for Willen, if he was was able to show any expression. Tatl only looked a bit annoyed.

"Thank you so much for your kindness!" the Great Faerie said. "I am forever indebted to you all."

After a few moments of silence, Nicky was able to say something "You're... you're welcome, I g-guess."

The Faerie let out a piercing laugh. "And of course, I should reward both of you boys! I hereby grant you both the power to use magic!"

She extended her arms to the trio's direction, as if to offer something, and without any other warning, Nicky and Willen started floating in the air.

"Waah!" Nicky flipped over in midair, frightened by this sudden event. "What's happening?!"

Fortunately for them, that didn't last for too long. Soon enough, they were back on solid ground.

"I feel... _buzzy_." Willen shook his head. "Like there's something new in me."

"Well, miss Great Faerie over there just imbued magic power inside of you two," Tatl pointed out. "I suppose it would feel weird."

"True," Nicky said.

The Faerie laughed again. "Now, go, children! Use your new gift wisely, and stop the Skull Kid as best you can!"

* * *

As the trio left the fountain, Nicky and Willen were hoping that they'd never have to go in there again.

"So... what now?" Willen asked.

"We found the Faerie and got some magic power, but now we need to find the Skull Kid," Nicky said.

"Hold up!" interrupted Tatl, flying between them. "What's so important about that ocarina thing that you guys are so eager to get it?"

"It's kind of a family heirloom," Willen tried explaining. "And, besides, didn't that salesman say we needed it to turn me back?"

"Hmm... you have a good point. Welp!" Tatl cracked her knuckles. "Let's hunt down the Skull Kid."

When the trio came to the opposite end of North Clock Town from the Faerie Fountain, they were confronted by a balloon. This wouldn't be so unusual, if the balloon weren't a) bright purple, and b) painted to have the Skull Kid's mask on it.

"Aiee!" Nicky jumped into Willen's arms at the sight. Thanks to his current form though, Nicky's weight was way too much for Willen, who collapsed with a squeaky yelp.

"Ow! Watch it!" Willen glared.

"Sorry" Nicky apologised, helping Willen stand back up. "It's just... why the heck is that _mask_ painted on that balloon?!"

"I'm gonna pop it," Willen said, glowering.

"And how exactly are you going to do that?" Tatl asked. "Your head is about three feet off the ground right now, _if _that."

Willen raised a finger, preparing to speak, then fell silent. "...Good point. Uh... I'll just..."

The Deku started pacing in a small circle, trying to figure a way he could do it, but nothing came to his mind.

"Aaagh! Why can't i think of any way to pop that damned balloon?!" he yelled. While yelling, he ended up spitting something out of his Deku snout. A bubble, to be more exact. Willen stared, dumbfounded, as the bubble flew towards the ground, and when it popped, it actually made a bright flash and a loud bang, leaving a small dent in the ground in its wake.

"Whoa." The transformed boy blinked, before angling his snout towards the balloon. He willed another bubble to come forth, and it whizzed through the air once free of Willen's snout, causing the balloon to explode with a loud POP! Its string fell forlornly to the ground.

Nicky blew a sigh of relief. "Whew. That thing was really creeping me out..."

"_HEY_!"

A much-more-real threat was suddenly approaching Nicky and Willen- the owner of the balloon, a small boy with a huge forehead and a red bandanna on his head. He looked pretty mad that Willen had popped his balloon.

"Ooh, dear." Willen sighed. "Don't tell me that balloon belonged to this kid."

"It looks like it," replied Tatl.

In a matter of seconds, the boy was right besides them, and Willen had already started talking.

"Sorry, okay? But... that balloon was pretty unsettling with that freaky mask painting, why would someone even want that?"

"Target practice," the boy said, as though it were obvious. "I need to practice for when the Skull Kid shows his ugly mug around Clock Town again, so I can pummel him with this!" He dug into his pocket, and held up...

"A... pea shooter?" Nicky raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but I don't really think a pea shooter is going to do much against someone with really powerful dark magic."

"Well, who asked your opinion?!" the boy yelled. "Anyway... you did something that I was trying to since morning. If only you weren't a Deku..."

"What's that got to do with it, huh?" Willen said angrily.

"Guys, guys, don't fight!" Nicky intervened, getting between them and pushing the two of them away from one another.

"You!" Tatl flew into the boy's face. "You know the Skull Kid, right?"

"Uh, yeah... Aren't you one of those annoying faeries that's always with him? Where'd he go?" the boy demanded.

"That's something we're trying to figure out too, you blockhead!" Tatl hit herself in the forehead. "Look, do you have any way of figuring out where Skull Kid might be, or even if he's in Clock Town?"

The boy lapsed into a sulky silence. "Well... I do know a place... But you can't tell _anyone _how to get there, okay? _Ever_," he said after a little while. "I _mean _it! It's top secret."

"And why you can't tell it?" Willen questioned. "Is it that important?"

"Mmhm. I promised I'd never let anyone damage Shikashi's pride and joy." The boy curled his hands into fist, and stared into Willen's eyes. "Come with me!"

He ran off in the direction of East Clock Town at full tilt, the Deku, human, and faerie dashing to catch up.

They were led to an alleyway near the Mayor's office, in front of which another kid was standing.

"Jim, who are these guys? A Deku, a faerie, and a fat guy?" the kid asked.

"A what?" Willen asked. They were probably referring to Nicky- his somewhat chubby figure tended to invite those sorts of remarks from the less kindly. The Deku couldn't help but laugh a bit at the kids. "You shouldn't say something so nasty," he admonished.

"Well, I brought these guys here because they're also searching for that Skull Kid," Jim said with a shrug. "C'mon, let us through, we gotta go see Shikashi."

"You sure?" the kid asked, warily eyeing Nicky. "I don't trust the... uh, pink-haired one... He's probably gonna get eaten by the Skulltula."

"The what-!?" Nicky spluttered.

"Skulltula. It's a monster- a big spider with a skull mark on its back," the kid explained. "There's one that made a nest in there."

"Will it attack us?" Willen said warily.

"Not if you don't bother it." The kid shrugged and stepped aside. "Be careful down there, and watch out for the Skulltula."

The kid stepped aside for the trio to enter the alleyway, which led down into an underground sewer of sorts, perhaps connected to the Clocktower. It was pretty dark, so if not for Tatl's light, they would probably be blind in there.

"Wow, it's dark..." Nicky shivered. "I do not want to meet that Skulltula."

"It won't help you if you keep thinking about it," Willen pointed out. "You heard the kids, just don't bother it and we'll be fine."

"O-okay..." The blond and pink-haired boy hugged himself tight. "I'm just scared..."

Something made a rustling sound overhead. The three froze in place as they heard it.

"... Well... I guess we're going to see the Skulltula VERY soon." Tatl gulped...

And it was upon them. From a crevice in the dark, dank roof, it descended, stark white in the darkness. Nicky and Willen shrieked, toppling over into the foul, stagnant sewer water with two loud splashes. As fast as possible, Nicky dragged himself out of the water, Willen holding onto his back since he couldn't swim in his current form. Once they were out of the water, they ran away as fast as they could, Tatl flying behind and all three screaming. When they stopped, they had made it quite some distance from the Skulltula, and were now standing in front of a ladder that led up to a ledge in the wall, which was blocked by another of the purple balloons with the Skull Kid's mask painted on.

"There's another one?" Willen asked. "And it's in our way. I guess I'll have to pop this one too..."

Willen breathed in, and fired another Deku Bubble out of his snout in the balloon's direction. The moment it hit the balloon, both exploded, and since they were in a closed space, the explosion sounded a lot louder; Nicky and Tatl had to cover their ears, and Willen reflexively covered the place where his ears would be if he were still human.

"L-let's go up," Nicky said, still shaken-up from the Skulltula encounter.

The other two nodded in response and climbed up the ladder.

* * *

The change in surroundings was quite sudden. From the dark, cold, humid, foul-smelling ambience of the sewers, the three found themselves entering into a really bright and colorful place, where images of various stars moved on the walls and the ground itself was full of colors.

"Whoaaaa." Tatl was whizzing around, staring at everything. "Pretty..." There was an uncharacteristically dopey grin on her face.

There was a spiral staircase leading upwards and, since there was nowhere else to go, they headed up (after Willen thumped Tatl on the back of the head to get her to snap out of her stupor).

The room up there was a lot cleaner, contrary to downstairs, which was full of crates. In the center, there was a giant telescope, and an old man wearing a blue hat and robe was looking through it.

"Hmm... Three days, perhaps... Oh dear..." the man muttered to himself, adjusting it. Upon registering the noise of the trio entering, he turned around and smiled. "Oh, hello there! Visitors?"

"Kind of," Nicky answered. "Um... we're searching for someone, and some kids said this would be a good place to start looking."

"Hmm... Well, this telescope might do the trick." The astronomer patted his telescope. "It has some pretty powerful magnification, so you should be able to find whoever you're looking for. Go on, give it a look."

"Alright. Thank you, Mister... Shikashi?" Nicky thanked him, assuming the name of the man was the one that those kids mentioned. He bent down to look into the telescope and almost at the same second jumped back: the telescope was aimed right at the moon's face, which was still contorted into a hideous, teeth-grinding scowl. "Yipe!"

"What happened?" Willen asked, suddenly on the alert and narrowing his eyes at the telescope.

"N-nothing..." stammered Nicky. "I just... g-got a close-up look at the moon. Sorry." He sighed, and looked back into the telescope, taking care to swivel it so that it wasn't displaying the moon. For a minute or two, Nicky roamed the streets of Clock Town from the telescope, searching intently for the Skull Kid but not finding him. He was about to give up, resetting the telescope to look at the moon, when something on top of the clock tower caught his eye. He adjusted the magnification to get a closer look...

It was the Skull Kid. He was standing at the very top of the clock tower, doing a strange dance that involved a lot of jumping up and down and pulling his arms in towards him, like he was willing the moon to come down closer. There was a faint, distant rumbling sound, and...

No.

_No. _

Impossible. It couldn't be. Nicky stared into the lens, and gaped. The moon had very visibly come _closer _to the ground, and continued to do so as the Skull Kid continued his disturbing dance.

"_Skull Kid_!" he screamed, leaping back and accidentally bowling Tatl over. "The Skull Kid is _calling down the moon_! I saw it!"

"Wait, _what_?! Let me see it!" Willen yelled, getting at the tip of his feet to look through the telescope. He saw exactly what Nicky told them, and jumped back in surprise. "Holy- you're not lying! But... how is he doing that?! More importantly, _why_!?"

"Excuse me," interrupted Shikashi. "You say someone is bringing the moon down? How is that even possible?"

The boy, Deku, and faerie just shrugged.

"Whatever's going on, we need to find the Skull Kid, and get him to stop it," Tatl said.

Shikashi frowned. "The Skull Kid? I've never seen a more ill-behaved child anywhere. He used to ransack this place whenever he visited with Jim's gang... always tossing things around and threatening to break my instruments..." The aged astronomer began to mutter angrily to himself.

"Anyway, we know where he is now. Mister Shikashi, how can we reach the top of the tower?" Willen asked.

"Well..." Shikashi pursed his lips and stroked his beard. "Normally, there's no way up to the top. The only accessible part of the tower is the clockworks at ground level. However, the Carnival of Time is upon us soon, and the Festival Tower is being built to provide townsfolk a way up to the top of the tower to view the night sky on the evening of the Carnival."

Tatl's eyes widened. "The Carnival!? It's finally Carnival time? Sweet faerie dust..." She began muttering to herself, moving her hands through the air like she was calculating with an abacus. "If the Skull Kid took us out of Termina through the clock tower, then that means..."

"... Please tell me this is a coincidence," she said, after a few minutes of silent calculation and looking through the telescope. "The Carnival is going to start in three days... which is about the same amount of time we have until the moon crashes into Termina and crushes us all like Tektites."

"What!" both Nicky and Willen yelled. "We- We can't wait that long! Isn't there any other way to climb the tower?!"

"None that I know of." Shikashi shrugged. "I'm certain you three will figure something out, though!" He smiled, and looked through the telescope. "Three days is enough time to formulate a... what the...?"

"What happened?" Tatl asked.

"This is... Very unusual," Shikashi mumbled. "I think it would be better if you see it for yourselves."

He stepped away for Willen to take a look, and the little Deku stepped up to the telescope. Looking through the lens, he saw the Skull Kid continuing his weird, hopping dance, pulling the moon closer and closer to the ground... but what was that thing glimmering in the moon's eye? Was the moon... _crying_?

It ended up falling from the moon's eye, as if it was an actual tear. The weird thing, though, is that the light reflecting from it became slightly stronger with each moment, as if it was getting closer and closer... a second later, Willen realized that, yes, it was coming closer.

BANG!

A huge crash outside rocked the foundations of the observatory, causing Shikashi, Nicky, and Willen to lose their balance, and Tatl to panic.

"What was that!?" she screeched, royally freaked out.

"I wish I knew!" Willen replied. "Maybe it was an earthquake? Though, there was a crashing sound too.."

Nicky shivered. "I... I'm gonna go outside to check," he said shakily.

* * *

He did what he said he would do, and once he'd stepped outside, he saw a crater marring the grass outside the building, just next to the white picket fence that closed the observatory grounds off from the rest of Termina. Taking a closer look, Nicky saw in the middle a blue rock with the shape of a teardrop.

"Whoa... What is this?" Nicky knelt down and picked up the blue stone, turning it around in his hand. The morning sun caused the teardrop-shaped stone to glimmer in its bright light. Curious to know more, Nicky returned inside, where he showed his finding off.

"This is what hit us," he said, displaying it for Shikashi, Willen, and Tatl to see. "Do any of you know what it is?"

"Just as I thought," mused Shikashi. "That rock you're holding is called a Moon's Tear."

"A Moon's Tear..?" The chubby blond boy whistled. "How did it form?"

"It originally began as magma inside the moon, which somehow crystallized due to extreme pressure, and likely ended up escaping the moon through its "eye"." Shikashi shrugged. "The moon is a mysterious thing."

"Well, let's be glad this tear landed besides the observatory and not the building itself," Tatl pointed out. "I don't want to know what would happen if it did." She flittered closer to the Moon's Tear and grinned widely. "How much is this thing worth?"

* * *

The trio bade goodbye to Shikashi soon after that, and went back on their trek through the sewers once more. Unfortunately, they forgot about the sewer's arachnid resident, and as such, five more minutes saw all three hastily rushing out of the alleyway that led into the sewers from Clock Town proper, screaming their heads off.

"We're _never going back down there again_!" panted Tatl once they'd reached a sufficient distance from the Skulltula.

"_Agreed_!" chorused the Deku and human.


	3. chapitre3

Something had to be done about the moon. That much, all three of the weird little crew knew. If they didn't manage to stop the moon from falling, they'd all be smashed flat, along with the rest of Termina.

As such, it was soon after their reentry into Clock Town that Tatl, Willen, and Nicky commenced what they called "Operation: Attack the Moon".

* * *

_Step 1: Observe Clock Tower and search for entry points._

The tower was pretty high and falling from it would mean certain death, so climbing to the top was out of the question. It didn't have any windows from where they could enter, either. There was only one entrance that didn't lead to the clockworks, and it was still unreachable, because it was several meters up from the ground.

"What kind of fool puts an entrance up so high that people can't reach it?" Nicky wondered, looking up at it and putting a hand to his chin contemplatively.

One of the carpenters who was working in the square overheard Nicky's query, and took it upon himself to explain.

"That's Old Door, boy," said the carpenter as he hammered a board into place, completing another part of the odd construction being built. "It only opens at midnight on the night o' the Carnival of Time."

"That doesn't answer why it's set so far away from the ground," complained Nicky.

"Well, people are only supposed to enter on Carnival, which is why we build this Festival Tower for to reach it," the carpenter answered, laying a second board. "Don't seem like it'll happen for this one, though."

Willen looked peeved. "Well, what all is going to come of this, then? We _need _to get up there when Carnival comes, or else that moon is going to crush us all like flies."

The carpenter guffawed at the Deku's brash statement. "Gwahaha! Ain't no way moon could fall. It just looks closer than usual, like it always does this time o' year."

"Just... _closer than usual_?" Willen looked up at the scowling, gargantuan moon. "You can see the moon, at giant size, in broad daylight! That's _not_ normal!" he yelled.

Nicky soon found himself being dragged away from the town square by the irate sapient plant, who was muttering curses while Tatl laughed her head off at the portly boy being yanked along by the tiny Deku. "Closer than usual, my wooden butt," Willen growled. "C'mon, Nicky, we're gonna find a way to get up there or die trying."

_Literally_, was the final word of that sentence, which went unspoken.

* * *

_Step 2: Figure out a way up that doesn't involve going up the tower._

Idea A: They could climb another building of the town and try to reach the top of the tower from there.

The Problem: In all of Clock Town, the clock tower was the biggest building by far. Not even the walls of the city were nearly as high.

"AAAAAAAAAAA-"

_THUD. _

Result: Miserable failure. Willen and Nicky had just fallen off the roof of the Stock Pot Inn after a disastrous attempt at parkour in an attempt to reach the top of the tower. Both were now nursing sore behinds and the insult of Tatl laughing at them.

"Did you see the looks on your faces?!" she spluttered, flipping around in midair in a way that reminded the boys disturbingly of the Skull Kid. "You had these big old eyes and wiiiide open mouths! Aahahahaha!"

"Save it, Tatl!" Willen snapped.

Nicky sighed. "Oy vey..."

"You really thought that would work?" Tatl asked, recovering from her burst of laughter.

"Well, can _you_ think of anything, you oversized firefly?" Willen retorted.

Tatl sobered up immediately, and glared at Willen. "_Firefly_, am I? I oughta hex you into a _slug_, you little creep!" she threatened, her yellow aura sparking and flaring up.

"I'd like to see you try!"

Nicky sighed and buried his face in his hands. _"I can tell this is going to be a recurring theme." _he thought gloomily as Tatl and Willen squabbled.

"_Anyway_," the pink-haired boy said loudly, interrupting the two, "didn't we arrive at Clock Town from inside the clock tower?"

"Yeah, but that was another entrance, and there wasn't any staircase leading upwards," pointed out Willen.

"Bummer." Nicky sighed... then had an idea. "Hey, remember those Deku Flowers from that weird wherever-it-was on the way to Clock Town? Do you think there are any here? We could try using those!"

"Hmm..." Tatl thought about it, bringing up a mental map in her head. "I... think there was one near the tower," was her cautious answer. "But... do you really think a simple Deku Flower will be enough to fly all the way up?"

"It's our only chance." Nicky cast a gaze at the clock tower, and shivered, knowing the Skull Kid was atop it.

* * *

_Step 3: Attempt to use Deku Flower._

Willen honestly didn't think that the yellow Deku Flower by the clock tower had enough launch power to propel the trio high enough into the air. He stared at the goldenrod plant forlornly. By now, it was close to noon, and while there were still two days to go before the Old Door opened, all three knew that a plan of action needed to be put into place, _fast_.

A loud noise from somewhere far away distracted Willen from his thoughts. The little Deku looked up in confusion, as he heard the sound of someone shouting.

"You! Get away from my flower!"

Looking up, the trio saw another Deku flying in their direction from the north, carrying several big, heavy-looking bags. Unlike Willen, he was rather big- his body was almost shaped like an egg, which made Nicky chuckle slightly..

The big Deku alighted on the golden Flower, drilling himself inside of it for a moment, before coming back to the surface without the bags he'd been carrying.

"And just what are you ruffians doing with my flower?!" the Deku demanded in a deep, gruff voice.

"We didn't know it was your flower," Willen pointed out. "Is there even something like that? Can you own a Deku Flower?"

"I daresay I can, seeing as I have the _title deed_," sniffed the Deku. He burrowed back inside, and resurfaced holding a certificate that marked him as the property owner.

Willen blinked. "...I stand corrected."

"Well, isn't there anything we can do for you? We kinda need to use that flower..." Nicky said.

"Absolutely not! This is my property, and I ought to call the guards on you for disturbing the peace and attempting to steal my flower!" The Deku took a deep breath, puffing out his wooden chest, and began to holler. "Guards! Guaaards!"

Needless to say, the trio beat a hasty retreat away from the Deku Flower, running/flying as fast as their legs/wings could carry them before any annoyed guards showed up.

* * *

"Well, _that_ was a disaster," muttered Nicky, kicking the floor of the Stock Pot's Blade Chamber. After the fiasco with the Deku Scrub, he, Tatl, and Willen had made their way back to the Inn, where they were now reposing and eating lunch.

"We can't climb the tower, we can't reach the top of it from outside, the Deku Flower near the tower is basically off-limits to us... What are we going to do?" Willen lamented.

"I dunno, ask the Four Giants to help us?" groused Tatl, who was nibbling on a finger-size sandwich and looking thoroughly annoyed.

Nicky paused in his demolishment of an apple to look at Tatl with a raised eyebrow. "Four Giants?" he asked warily.

"Yeah. You guys never heard of them?" The yellow faerie's eyebrows raised as well.

Willen shook his head, trying to somehow eat a lettuce leaf with his long snout. "In our defense, we're not from here, so no, never," he mumbled through a mouthful of lettuce.

"Huh. How 'bout that." Tatl polished off her sandwich and cleared her throat. "Ahem. The Four Guardian Giants are this old myth here in Termina. Basically, they're sort of our gods, who promised to protect us from calamity and then disappeared..." She snorted, waving a hand dismissively. "It's all a bunch of hokum, don't put any stock into it."

"Ehh, it's not something we ought to worry about, is it?" Willen muttered. "We still need to find a way up there..." He lapsed into a moody silence, kicking his feet as he sat on the bed and cramming salad leaves into his snout.

* * *

The rest of the day went by with relatively little incident, aside from an occurrence in which Tatl got trapped in a jar by an elderly patron of the Stock Pot Inn and had to be rescued by Anju.

That night, neither Willen nor Nicky could sleep, though Tatl had zonked out almost immediately after the jar incident and hadn't awoken. From the window of the Blade Chamber, they could see the moon hovering outside, silent but still hideous.

"Willen? Are you awake?" asked Nicky, lying awake in bed.

"Yeah, I am," the Deku answered in a low voice. "Are you also having trouble sleeping?"

"Uh-huh." Nicky nodded. "I just... I can't sleep. Not with the moon overhead. It's too scary."

"Same thing here," Willen replied. "...staying awake won't help though. We should at least keep trying."

"A-alright." The chubby boy hugged the Deku. "I'm so scared, bro... It's so big... How can we possibly stop something so huge?" He looked out the window, and shuddered. "Why... Why would the Skull Kid do this? How can we stop him? I... I don't know what to do..." Tears came to his green eyes, and he wiped them on his sleeve.

"I wish I knew the answers to those questions..." Willen sighed, burying his face in Nicky's chest. "But we can't just give up and see what happens. And... even if it's hopeless, we might as well try to do something, right?"

Nicky nodded. "...You're right, Willen. Plus, we have to get the ocarina back, at the very least. Remember what Mom told us?"

"Yeah..." Willen half-closed his eyes. Both of them remembered it, at that time.

. . .

_"This ocarina... It's an important family heirloom. With the notes of this instrument and your own voices, you can harness power that can move the mountains themselves. As long as you two are together, you can create a duet that can change the world. Never forget that. Now... Here is a song for this ocarina. It is called the Song of Time. Play it, sing it, and the Goddess of Time herself will come to your aid."_

. . .

Out of nowhere, Nicky began to hum, a slow, soft, simple melody. It was the same Song of Time: firm without being heavy, somber without being sepulchral.

"The Song of Time... Play it and the Goddess of Time will come to your aid... maybe we can try that, when we recover the ocarina..." Willen mused.

"Yeah... But Mom said we have to do it as a duet..."

"I know... I wonder how I'm going to play that song with a Deku snout," Willen joked. "Anyway, we should try to sleep again. Staying awake all night won't do any good."

"Okay." Nicky nodded, and began to hum again. The soft, almost sweet tune of the Song of Time lulled both human and Deku to sleep, while the angry moon hung in the sky overhead.

* * *

\- DAWN OF THE SECOND DAY: 48 HOURS LEFT -

It was a cold, cloudy grey morning, and rain was worryingly imminent. After waking, eating a small breakfast, and wondering for a while, the trio could only think of one way to enter the Clock Tower: the golden Deku Flower. The problem would be convincing the Deku who owned the flower to allow them to use it.

"Should we sell him our souls?" Tatl contemplated, sitting on the windowsill of the Blade Chamber and kicking her feet.

"You're joking, right?" Willen stared at Tatl with abject disbelief.

"I dunno." The faerie shrugged. "Seems like he won't take anything worth less than a priceless jewel... for... it..." She was suddenly staring at Nicky's pockets.

In less than a second, Tatl was doing cartwheels through the air, zipping this way and that with excitement. "Nicky! The thing from the observatory! What was it?"

"Moon's Tear?" The chubby boy produced the shining blue stone from his pocket. "Yeah, it's right here..."

"Perfect!" Tatl snatched it up and flew in a bright circle around Nicky's head, the stone weighing her down a bit and making her bob up and down. "We can trade this to that guy so we can use the flower! It's perfect!"

"Do you really think he'll accept it?" Willen asked. "I mean, he didn't look like he would accept anything from us. We even asked if there's anything we could do for him and we actually had to run away before he got the guards on us."

"Did you see those bags he was holding, though?" pointed out Nicky. "They were jingling as he went along with them... They're probably full of money or trinkets. If that's the case, he might appreciate something as valuable as this thing." He took the Tear back from Tatl and held it up for emphasis.

"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" said Tatl, before flying out of the room at top speed, Willen and Nicky clumsily following behind.

* * *

The boy, Deku and faerie arrived at South Clock Tower in a matter of minute, heading to the yellow Deku Flower. The merchant was still there, fat and scowling in his plant, and his luminous eyes narrowed when he caught sight of the trio.

"What do you want now, you thieves?!" the Deku merchant said snappishly upon seeing them, hunching over as if to protect his flower from the ruffians who wanted to "steal" it. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from my flower?!"

"We, uh, just want to borrow it so we can get up to the... y'know, the Old Door tomorrow," said Nicky. "For the Carnival."

"Well, you already know my answer to that request," the merchant retorted. "I really doubt you have anything valuable enough to change my mind!"

"Is that so...?" Willen smirked, or at least he would have if his snout permitted. He fumbled in Nicky's pocket, and pulled out the Moon's Tear. "How about this?"

The merchant froze in place for a second upon seeing the glimmering blue stone in Willen's wooden palm. "Is.. Is that... a Moon's Tear?" If his snout were a human jaw, it would have dropped.

"The genuine article," confirmed Willen. He tossed it from one hand to the other, looking slightly smug

"Well... you proved me wrong..." The Deku merchant started saying, his voice lacking the same aggressive tone from before. "I... Here." He delved into his flower and came back up holding a piece of paper- the title deed to the Deku Flower. "Take this. You can have the whole Deku Flower."

"Alright, here it is!" Willen chirped, offering the Moon's Tear to the merchant and taking the title deed.

Tatl looked triumphant as the Deku merchant traded ownership of his flower for the gem. "Ooh, my wife will love this!" the wooden creature exulted, hugging it close, before popping into his flower, then rocketing out, carrying his money bags with him and flying off south.

"Well, that's one problem out of our way," said Nicky with a relieved grin, waving the merchant off until he was nothing but a dark speck against the southern sky.

"Now we wait," Willen added. He sounded happy for a moment, but one look up to the sky was enough to change that into fear. "...The moon will fall in three days, right? Not… any sooner?"

Tatl looked up at the moon, shuddered, ran through a set of equations in her head, and nodded. "Judging by its vector and speed of descent, we have until six AM on the night of the Carnival," she confirmed, averting her eyes as fast as she could, and when next the little yellow faerie spoke it was in subdued tones. "Let's make the most of it while we can, before we have to confront Skull Kid."

"Well, what do we do until then?" Willen asked, crossing his arms. "This town is almost empty, and for a good reason."

Tatl shrugged. "We could hide out in the sewers… steal food… play some pranks… Dunno. At least, that's what Tael and I used to do with Skull Kid."

Willen and Nicky shared a glance.


End file.
